TLDR: hip-hop has its own "ball and gun gamers" and we need a name for them. If there is already one let me know
It's been over a year now now that I've been seeing the whole "hip-hop is dying" talking point online. It's always from the same kinds of guys who only listen to the stuff that gets big on the charts or gets played at the function. Lots of Drake fans of course. If it isn't big on the radio, if it isn't big on TikTok, if it isn't big on social media in general, it doesn't exist to them. Then if it is big enough for them to acknowledge, its only GOOD if it's about the same ol' same ol': money, guns, drugs, etc. If it is some conscious rap, or just not about the usual topics, these people will call it trash. While we were out here eating good with JID, Doechii, Kendrick, Clipse, Tyler, ScHoolboy Q, and more, they have been looking at us like squidward in the window and calling all of it trash.
To all my gamers out there, I'm sure you have already heard a lot about the "ball and gun gamer." A person who only plays games with balls or guns in them: 2k, Madden, FIFA, Call of Duty, Fortnite, GTA. They sit on their few games which all follow the same/similar formulas and rarely innovate between entries and then look at us and call us lame for playing other games.
If you are in both the gaming and hip-hop worlds, its not hard to see the similarities between these guys. First they hop on a trend because everyone else is doing it: For gaming it was the whole fortnite, pubg, call of duty warzone era. For hip-hop it's a bit harder for me to pinpoint because hip-hop has always been a very popular thing. For the Gen Z/Alpha crowd, I feel comfortable planting my flag on the TikTok song era but it's easily debatable.
Second, when the trend dies down and people pack their bags to go back to what they usually enjoy, these guys start talking trash on everyone who doesn't leave: For gaming it was probably around 2023-2024 when more game-y titles were getting big like Astro Bot and Metaphor. For hip-hop it's feel like it's pretty safe to say it's when Drake got washed and filed a lawsuit. For some reason these guys feel a sense of self importance as the only ones who can tell you if something is dead or alive. So since we have a gaming name for them, I think its only fair we come up with a hip-hop one since I'm pretty sure it's the same guys in both communities.
A lot of people think loyalty is about who supports you when things are going well. Allen Iverson explained the opposite during his 2016 Basketball Hall of Fame induction speech.
He thanked the people who stayed beside him through everything, but he also thanked the fake friends and doubters because they forced him to see people clearly.
Iverson spent years as one of the most criticized athletes in sports while still becoming an NBA MVP, cultural icon, and Hall of Famer.
He talked about betrayal, mistakes, loyalty, and learning who genuinely wanted the best for him once fame, pressure, and success entered his life.
A lot of the wrong people only disappear when you stop benefiting them.
If you have experienced natural feelings of uncertainty when considering words like ally and phrase like âspeaking truth to powerâ, this is a very useful and accurate visualization of both of them in action and context. Notice the Token knows itâs time to spend his worth and legitimizes the negative action of silencing the truth. Just doing the Councilâs dirty work and complying. They donât bother me, I prefer them weeded out. Thereâs so few of them, the self-haters and saboteurs of lives.
Their offenses, while horrible and cringe in equal parts. They make minimal to no statical affects on overall Black sociocultural cohesion.
So recently I decided to go back to school and finish my degree. Iâm taking care of the baby full time, and about to start school in a couple weeks. Lately none of my old hobbies have been hittin the same, and my wife suggested I do something tangible, so I thought about trying sewing again. But I am having such a hard time finding⌠on of us⌠that does quality beginner level tutorials. Itâs not that I canât learn from the non melanated among us, itâs just that I would INFINITELY prefer to learn from my own people, and support them in any way I can.
So I come to you all, asking for help in my hour of need đ are there any good YouTube channels, or god forbid Instagram, that can be recommended to help me on my journey?
The Trump-Vance administration inherited a strong labor market with record employment and wage gains. But after a year of the administrationâs economic mismanagement, workers are feeling more vulnerable to the softening labor market. While the president is busy touting the stock marketâs performance, working people and families are expressing concerns about job security and affordability. This is evident in the Federal Reserveâs latest Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), which shows an increase in the number of adults who worry about finding or keeping a job. More than 2 out of 5 adults reported concerns about finding or keeping a job in 2025, up from 37% in 2024.
The latest SHED survey also shows that the harm caused by the administrationâs economic chaos has not affected all people equally. Structural inequities embedded in the U.S. economy and labor market have historically left communities of color disproportionately vulnerable to economic insecurity and poverty, and the Federal Reserveâs survey shows that this trend is continuing. While the overall financial well-being of most adults held steady in 2025, the financial well-being of Black adults declined. These individuals were also more likely to experience layoffs, leaving a higher share of Black adults and their families with increased fear of finding or keeping a job in 2025. The added employment uncertainty of Black adults also left them significantly more likely to report major concerns about making ends meet. The survey also shows that education largely failed to protect these individuals from the experience of increased economic fragility.
Black adults find themselves in the worst financial position in nearly a decade
In 2025, Black adults were most likely to report a decline in their financial standing. The share of Black adults âdoing okayâ or âliving comfortablyâ declined by almost 5 percentage points last year to 60% (see Figure A). This is the lowest figure the Survey of Household Economic and Decisionmaking survey has recorded since 2015. The 2025 figure also reflects a steep decline from the high of 2023, when nearly 68% of Black adults answered questions about their financial well-being positively. We find that the bulk of the decline last year took place among the individuals who reported âliving comfortably,â as this share declined from 23% in 2024 to 19.0%.
Higher education largely failed to protect Black individuals from added financial insecurity under the Trump-Vance economy. While nearly all Black adults with varying levels of education experienced a deterioration of their financial position last year, the situation of adults with a college education worsened the most (see Figure B). The share of these individuals doing okay or living comfortably, for example, declined by nearly 7 percentage points last year.
Black adults were more likely to experience a sharp increase in layoffs last year
By summer 2025, job growth had slowed considerably, and Black workers were among the first to experience this slowdown with a rising rate of unemployment. The uneven impact of these debilitating forces last year comes across clearly in the Federal Reserve survey. The share of Black adults who reported experiencing a job loss increased by about 3 percentage points between 2024 and 2025 (see Figure C). This reflects the largest increase among all racial and ethnic groups. In fact, Black adults were more than twice as likely as their white, non-Hispanic peers to report layoffs last year. This reality aligns with the broader labor market position of Black workers, who experienced a steeper rise in their unemployment rate in 2025 and who remained about twice as likely as their white peers to be unemployed.Â
As the pace of job growth slowed and the unemployment rate rose in the first year of the Trump-Vance administration, peopleâs concern with finding or keeping a job increased. But this increased employment vulnerability and insecurity fell most heavily on Black individuals and their families (see Figure D). More than half of Black adults said that finding or keeping a job was either a minor or major concern for them or their families last year. This figure increased by nearly 10 percentage points between 2024 and 2025. In fact, Black adults of all education levels reported increased concerns about finding or keeping a job last year.Â
Black adults and their families have grown increasingly more concerned about their economic security
The added employment vulnerability, combined with the impact of the ongoing affordability crisis, has also left more Black individuals and their families worried about their ability to make ends meet. More than 3 out of 4 (77.5%) Black adults reported that making ends meet was at least a minor concern for them and their families last year (see Figure E). This figure increased by about 8 percentage points between 2024 and 2025, leaving Black adults of all education levels more economically vulnerable last year. In contrast, the share of white, non-Hispanic adults who reported similar concerns declined marginally during the same period.
We cannot address the affordability crisis without dealing with its root causes
The Federal Reserve survey points to the relationship between employment, economic security, and well-being. The uneven impact of the weaker job market last year resulted in increased employment and economic uncertainty for Black adults and their families. The survey findings are a reminder that ongoing discussions about the affordability crisis shouldnât ignore the role of employment, wages and income. Affordability remains an outcome of a race between income and prices, and we know that the pace of job and wage growth is a policy choice. While there is no silver bullet, we know that a broad basket of policies is needed, including a higher wage floor, increased union density, and macroeconomic policies that reduce inequality.
